Q’wemtsin Health Society celebrating 25 years of health care for Secwépemc people

The dream to operate such a clinic began in the 1990s and it came to fruition on April 1, 2001. One of a few such facilities in B.C., the clinic has since grown to offer everything from public health and homecare services to allied care and primary care.

“In 1981, Canada was the third healthiest country, according to the World Health Organization, except its Indigenous people were in worse condition than third-world countries,” QHS health director Colleen Lessmann said. “That had a lot to do with land jurisdiction issues. People kind of fell through the cracks for quite a few decades.”

“When we started, we have two community schools that we provide service for and the immunization rates at those schools were like at 30 per cent. Now we’ve got them up into the 95 per cent plus range. People just weren’t getting the services that they needed to be healthy and to stay healthy.”

Doctors are at the clinic three days a week while dentists stop by twice a month. Nurses and other health professionals are also on site daily to provide services to people who otherwise may not have had the ability to get the care they need.

“We started out as just a thought with a couple of small offices on St. Paul Street downtown all the way to the development of this building in 2007,” QHS human resources manager, Bobbi Sasakamoose, added.

“We’ve had one expansion on this building and we’re talking about a third within this new year and the development of an entirely separate health centre out in Skeetchestn. We have really flourished.”

Five Secwépemc communities began working on an assessment of their health needs in 1996. Two of those – the Bonaparte Indian Band and the Neskonlith Indian Band – stepped back, but the other three went on to complete the health transfer from the federal government 25 years ago.

“I’ve had Interior Health staff tell me this is like primary health care the way it should be,” Lessman added. “When I’m using the term in that sense, it’s not just about doctors, but primary health care is having all services under one roof.”

“We’re really proud of the work that we’ve done here.”

QHS board chair Andrew Karas, a first term as a councillor for the Skeetchestn Indian Band, has been around for as long as the clinic has, and he’s now helping to ensure that future generations benefit.

“I was one of the kids that QHS was servicing in the early days,” the 25-year-old said. “When I was in school in Skeetchestn, they would come out and do the fluoride program or they would clean our teeth or they were the ones that gave us all of our immunization shots.”

“It’s a huge part of our agreement between Tkemlúps, Skeetchestn and Whispering Pines,” added Myron Toma, a Tkwenem7íple7 (councillor) for Tkemlúps te Secwépemc, who also sits on the QHS board. “To be able to provide services to all three communities has been very pivotal and a pillar in all three of our communities.”

Primarily funded by the federal government through the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Lessman said there is also some provincial money to help keep operations at QHS going. However, like the broader health sector in the province, QHS is not completely immune from staffing woes.

“We’re worried about the baby boomers and what does it look like if we don’t have space for them in long-term care facilities? Where do they go?” Sasakamoose said. “Do they stay in community or do people step up and take on those careers? There are lots of opportunities and there is definitely a need.”

She hopes people from the cocommunities served by QHS show interest in an education in health care.

“They, too, can come and support the people who supported them throughout their youth while giving back to our elders, because it’s such an important teaching for the First Nation,” Sasakamoose added

The growing pains and successes experienced over the past quarter-century give QHS staff something to reflect on as they look to a future where people can continue to get the care they need.

“We’ve been very successful in providing a safe place for them to come and do their healing and it’s really important,” Lessman said. “I don’t know what it is about this place, but it seems to allow people just to feel safe here.”

by Victor Kaisar

Q’wemtsin Health Society celebrating 25 years of health care for Secwépemc people

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